Bittersweet Lemon Drops
by izerius
Summary: HBP. Hermione Granger learns that her feelings are unrequited by a certain ginger-haired friend. Hurt from the painful reminder everywhere she went, she runs off to the Black Lake in search of solitude only to run into the last person on her mind - Draco Malfoy.
1. The Golden Trio Reunites

**Chapter 1  
The Golden Trio Reunites**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or have credit to the creation of all the characters, events, places and significant objects of Harry Potter. All Harry Potter characters, events, places, etc is the property of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Entertainment respectively and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only. Some quotes are derived from the books and film and will be stated so beforehand or after.

 **Author's Notes:** Hello there! Welcome to the first chapter! Just some quick notes before I start. This story begins just the same as Half Blood Prince (book/film) all the way till Deathly Hallows where it becomes EWE (Epilogue? What Epilogue?) where some things are altered.

This is my first chaptered Dramione fic and I hope you like it. Leave me some comments/reviews, I will be very happy to learn from my mistakes and improve my writing.

Izerius x

-xxx-

It was the end of summer in the year 1996. The remaining bits of warmth from the burning sun filtered through the heavy thick clouds that hung low in the sky, casting a cool shade for many residing in England. This was no exception for the wizarding part of England. The sun had been torturous during the few couple of months, enveloping the country in sweltering heat. Everyone could sigh in relief knowing that summer was coming to an end and the cool autumn is approaching.

A particular young female witch was excited that summer was over not because that the weather will be a lot cooler than the previous months, but because school was starting soon. She was well aware she was the only person in her circle of friends who is enthusiastic for such a ridiculous reason like going back to school.

Hermione Granger smiled, laughing inwardly at her thoughts as she sat perched on a window seat with a book in her lap. She looked out the window of the room she was staying in the Burrow, viewing the stunning sunset along the horizon, probably one of the last ones she'll get to see this summer. She inhaled deeply and sighed comfortably, feeling at ease and at home here in the Burrow as she counted her lucky stars to have found such a caring a loving family like the Weasleys.

It was coming to her sixth year in Hogwarts and they still welcomed her with open arms and warm hugs, as though she was just another Weasley. Arthur and Molly Weasley treated her like their own daughter, Fred and George made her feel like a spoiled little sister and Ginny was her best friend and the sister she never had.

And then, there was Ron, her close friend – along with Harry – whom she had met and stuck with since the first year of her wizarding education. Only that recently, she had been feeling strange tingling butterfly-like sensations in her tummy whenever she was around the red-head and her skin would feel sparks whenever they were seated right beside each other.

Just a couple of hours ago, she caught herself staring into his stunning blue eyes for Merlin-knows-how-long – even Ron noticed and she immediately blushed and looked away.

Hermione buried her face in her book, cringing at the memory of that moment.

 _Is this what I think it is?_ she wondered, biting her lower lip. _It's too soon to tell._

Right at that moment, a knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and she composed herself as the person outside opened the door.

 _Speaking of the devil_.

Hermione could feel her cheeks start to heat up as Ron poked his head through the gap, breaking into a smile when he found Hermione seated by the window.

"Hermione, Harry's here."

In an instant, all thoughts and daydreams of Ron were thrown out of the window as the brunette practically leaped off of the window seat and left her book where she was sitting at.

Rushing down the stairs of the Burrow, Hermione followed Ron to the ground floor where everyone was gathered to welcome the boy-who-lived. Harry looked up, hearing the loud footsteps of his two best friends trudging down the cramped stairway and smiled. Hermione went past Ron and flung her arms around Harry tightly.

"Glad to see you back again, Harry!" Hermione said.

"Good to see you too, 'Mione," Harry smiled back.

Hermione could see through that tight smile that something was bothering Harry but she knew better to ask him when they were alone. Mrs. Weasley then emerged from the kitchen and hurried everyone to settle down to have their feast of a dinner, now that Harry is safely back in the Burrow.

-xxx-

Hermione was stuffed from a delightful and warm dinner and she expected no less from the Weasley matriarch. She had joined her two friends on the couch, distributing mugs of tea to them and joined their conversation about their summer break stories. Ginny, Fred and George also joined in with them and cracked jokes together.

Molly Weasley trotted in from the kitchen with letters in her hands and an excited smile on her face.

"The owls brought something exciting for you three!" she sang, waving the letters at the trio.

"Our O.W.L. results are here!" Hermione chirped excitedly, bounding up to her feet.

Hermione was the first to reach Mrs. Weasley, who handed her the letter with her name on it, and did the same for the other two boys who were less enthusiastic than Hermione about getting their results.

"10 Galleons Hermione gets all 'Outstanding'," Fred whispered, nudging George in his arm.

"Deal, 10 Galleons if she doesn't get all 'Outstanding', even if she gets one 'Exceeds Expectations'," George agreed, nodding his head.

Seated back down on the floor beside the fireplace, the trio ripped through their letters and inspected their grades. After about a minute of them silently reading and making different faces at their report slips, Fred and George broke the silence.

"So? How many did you get?" they asked in unison.

Harry and Ron glanced at each other's slips with bored faces. They shared a look and a shrug.

"We both got 7," Ron said in a boring tone.

Everybody then glanced at Hermione, who was still frowning at her slip when she realized everyone in the room, including Molly and Arthur, were waiting for her to announce her grades.

"I got 10," she said with a shrug.

"You got 10 O.W.L.s and you're upset about it?" Ron asked bewilderedly, looking over her shoulder to read her grades. "Bloody hell, and with all 'Outstanding' grades!"

"All except one!" Hermione sighed dejectedly. "I just can't seem to do as well in Defence Against the Dark Arts. What a stinker."

Fred and George came around to take a peek at Hermione's report slip and George hollered.

"That's 10 Galleons, brother!" he said, opening his palm to his twin brother.

"Damn it!" Fred huffed out as he dug out 10 Galleons from his pocket and slapping it onto George's hand. "I merely had faith Hermione would ace everything."

That brought a slight smile on Hermione's face as everybody laughed at Fred's loss, despite his bet being a good one.

"Thanks, Fred," Hermione said with a small laugh. "Sorry I slipped up this year."

"Now, now, no need to be sorry. All of you did amazing this year," Molly came to the trio and gathered them into a warm, awkward hug. "Better than the twins, of course!"

"Hey!" the twins shouted with annoyed faces.

Arthur stepped forward from his armchair, where he was sipping some tea from his mug, tapping his youngest son on the shoulder encouragingly.

"Come on now, cheer up you three! We'll soon go to Diagon Alley and shop for school supplies for the new school year," he said with excited eyes, perking the three 16-year-olds up.

-xxx-

The next day, Hermione went out to Diagon Alley with Harry and Ron and the rest of the Weasley clan. It was a beautiful day and the sky was clear with little tufts of white clouds. She loved walking down Diagon Alley, especially when it was busy with students buying school supplies.

She especially loved it when she bumped into Muggleborn wizards and witches in their first year and their Muggle parents trying to find their way through the maze of shops with the help of a Hogwarts teacher. It reminded her of her very first trip to Diagon Alley with her parents and Professor McGonagall helping them sort things out.

Hagrid had decided to join them as well, mostly to see Harry, making the trip a lot more fun. Hermione walked beside Harry, who was talking with Hagrid, behind the bunch of excited red-haired Weasleys. Her eyes were trained onto only one particular red-haired male until she realized this and quickly looked away.

 _Get a grip of yourself, Hermione!_ she scolded herself inwardly.

The group of them had made their rounds in Flourish and Blotts' and Hermione was happy she found all the textbooks she needed, even some additional reading materials that would help her in her assignments. As expected, she was the only person who needed two bags to carry her ridiculous amount of books.

While on their way from bookstore, Hermione spotted a Draco Malfoy stepping out of Madam Malkins' from across the street with his mother. He had a scowl on his face and muttering something under his breath as Mrs. Malfoy tried to catch up with her son, equally frustrated about something.

Hermione watched with narrowed eyes as the young Malfoy noticed the Golden Trio in front of him and his scowl menacingly at them.

"Out of my way, Potter!" he snarled, glaring at Harry.

The Slytherin purposely shoved his shoulder against the raven-haired boy as he walked past them. The three Gryffindors didn't bother fighting back at the blonde-haired boy since they were already used to his snarky attitude. They learned to just ignore his rude comments, unless if he inflicts damage upon any of them.

The trio followed the clan and entered Ron's brothers' shop, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and they were greeted warmly by the twins, who were impeccably dressed in fancy-coloured suits. Hermione had strayed away from her two best friends and she fiddled around with some of their interesting gadgets.

Eventually, she got a black eye from their punching telescope. Fred passed her a bruise removal paste that she applied on her eye, which removed the blue-black discolouration on her skin within the hour.

She continued to rummage through their store carefully as Harry and Ron were still perusing through up in the second level, but she stayed well within the sweets section. She glanced up at the front window of the shop and happened to see Malfoy stalking down outside, alone.

 _Wasn't he with his mother just a few minutes ago?_ Hermione wondered.

She slipped easily past the new patrons who just entered the shop, and walked out into the busy street. She followed the striking blonde hair amongst the bobs of heads in the crowds and soon realized Malfoy was walking towards Knockturn alley.

When she entered Knockturn alley, she heard hurried footsteps behind her and a hushed call of her name.

"Hermione! What are you doing here?" Harry hissed, catching up to her on quiet footsteps, Ron right behind her.

Placing her index finger on her lips, she gestured them to get behind her.

"Shush! Malfoy's acting strange," she whispered as she peeked around the corner.

The trio managed to get a peek at Malfoy entering Borgin and Burke's, a shop that sold dark artefacts. They could see the Malfoy heir talking to the owner of the shop. It was dark inside the shop and Malfoy seemed to be engulfed in the shadows. They could hardly make out what he was trying to say but Malfoy seemed to have shown the owner something under his sleeve.

Harry let out a faint gasp, "Malfoy's got the Dark Mark."

Hermione quickly led them out of Knockturn Alley and back into the busy streets of Diagon Alley but they still spoke in hushed whispers.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you," Hermione said, glancing around them to make sure nobody's listening. "We could barely see anything, much less his arm."

"Then why would he be in that shady store and talking to the owner?" Ron wondered aloud.

"It makes sense that he's already gotten the Dark Mark over the summer break, and now he's helping Voldermort with his plans," Harry said convincingly.

"That is actually quite believable," Ron admitted, nodding his head even though he still had a confused frown on his face.

"We can't just assume things yet, especially when we don't have enough evidence against him," Hermione reminded the two boys. "We'll just keep our eyes peeled and our backs covered. Seems like this year's going to be a tough one."

-xxx-


	2. Return to Hogwarts

**Chapter 2  
Return to Hogwarts**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or have credit to the creation of all the characters, events, places and significant objects of Harry Potter. Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Entertainment respectively. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only. Some quotes are derived from the books and film and will be stated so beforehand or after.

-xxx-

Throngs of students in robes of different colour accents and emblems filled the castle corridors as they rushed to their next classes. There were new faces among the crowds: the first years – fresh and excited about officially taking formal magical education in Hogwarts, especially from the Muggle-borns, which Hermione could relate to the most.

There were also familiar faces from the sixth years that Hermione could still recognize. She passed by the Ravenclaws Luna Lovegood and Cho Chang and managed to smile at them in greeting. She caught sight of Seamus Finnigan in a casual discussion with Neville Longbottom, which the latter had apparently matured into a fine young man. Hermione found it quite hard to believe that he was once a little goofy, lanky boy who often trips over his own feet. On second thought, he probably still does.

One student that caught Hermione's attention in particular, was one Draco Malfoy. It was rather astonishing that the brunette would have her interest piqued onto the blonde Slytherin. She had seen him not too long ago but she never noticed how much he had really changed, looks and attitude-wise, until she had seen him seated in the Great Hall at the Slytherin's table on the first day of school.

There was something off about him but Hermione couldn't quite put a finger on what exactly. The nasty scowl on his face was absent. Neither was the pompous and arrogant look of a pureblood heir he had as a child. Instead, a sombre and dull look bore on his aristocratic features. Even when the Slytherins were talking boisterously about Quidditch, he simply propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin on the palm of his hand, looking rather bored.

It was such an odd and peculiar sight but Hermione didn't want to be bothered about that white ferret. After years of mocking and humiliation, Hermione learned not to give any two cents about her childhood bully, no matter how much he seemed to have changed, whether for the better or for the worse.

Walking towards the Gryffindor common room, she bumped into Harry, who was talking to Neville. Hermione greeted her tall housemate, in which he greeted back awkwardly before telling Harry and her that he'll chat up with them soon.

After Neville left, Hermione looked around and asked the raven-haired boy, "Where's Ron?"

Harry nodded his head towards the other end of the corridor and Hermione looked over the bobbing heads of the students rushing about in the corridors. Eventually, her eyes landed on a mop of bright red hair unmistakably Ron's, but then noticed that he was with someone else.

As the crowd dissipated, Hermione could see clearly that the other person was none other than Lavender Brown, wearing her pretty pink polka dot bow on top of her neat strawberry blonde curls that made Hermione's wild brown ones look like a bird's nest. They were both talking very close to each other, each having a peculiarly shy smile and that seemed to spark something fiery inside Hermione's chest.

"They've been talking for 10 minutes now," Harry said with a sigh. "I didn't want you to see this, honestly, but he's taking longer than I thought."

"I don't think that's merely talking, Harry," Hermione said, trying not to sound annoyed. "They're outright _flirting_!"

Harry turned to look at his brunette best friend and noticed her furious expression. He understood, from the past few weeks they'd been spending together, that Hermione has developed some sort of feeling for his other ginger-haired best friend.

"You alright, Hermione?" he asked carefully.

Hermione realized she was getting angry for no reason and quickly calmed down as much as she could, whirling around and away from the flirty pair.

"Let's just go back," she said, turning her heels towards their dormitory, with Harry barely catching up behind her.

The brunette honestly didn't know what came over her. She was so angry at seeing Ron with her annoying roommate and now she was being furious at herself for being mad over such a petty matter. She could feel her face burning up and willed herself to cool her anger down. Her head was overflowing with thoughts and theories, rationalizing her illogical behaviour and she clearly knew why she was acting likewise.

Despite the fact that it made so much sense, Hermione denied the thought and deemed it nonsense.

-xxx-

Fifteen minutes later, Harry and Hermione were seated in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room, discussing about who Harry ought to recruit in the new Quidditch team, since he was the current captain.

"I was thinking of having Ginny as Chaser," Harry said thoughtfully.

"Oh, Ginny's spectacular in Quidditch! You should have her permanently on the team. Just my humble opinion, of course," Hermione agreed excitedly, knowing that the youngest Weasley would be ecstatic to hear the news. "Are you going to get Ron to try out as well?"

Harry narrowed his eyes towards the rug on the floor, thinking carefully and rubbing his chin in doing so.

"He's pretty good on a broom but he's a nerve wreck when it comes to Quidditch," he said. "I might try to convince him for the tryouts this weekend. Maybe he'll get a place in the team, who knows."

Just then, Ron came through the common room door, bearing a wide-toothed smile on his face. He joined his two best friends, still smiling like a dork and falling onto the couch beside Harry. The raven-haired boy glanced nervously at Hermione, who immediately seemed to have found a profound interest in the book on her lap, turning her back towards Ron.

Clearing his throat, he turned to Ron and said, "You seem to be in good spirits, mate. Anything you want to tell us?"

Ron's smile grew even wider as he said, "Lavender came up to me after class. She said she liked me."

Glancing at Hermione, Harry noticed her fingers curling and gripping her book in a death grip, the knuckles on her hand turning a ghostly white.

"And what did you do about it?" Harry continued to ask.

"Told her we could have lunch together tomorrow," Ron said, relaxing against the couch. "And then she kissed me on the cheek. She's so sweet."

Suddenly, Hermione got up on her feet and stormed towards her dormitory, leaving the two boys without a word. Harry and Ron watched her disappear up the spiral staircase – one with a confused face and the other with a helpless look.

"What's up with her?" Ron asked.

"Uh... she probably remembered she had homework to finish," Harry quickly said before changing the subject to Quidditch.

-xxx-

Professor Slughorn, the new Potions teacher, was running late – five minutes and counting, to be exact. Hermione sat at a work table with Harry, who was busy reading his Advanced Potions-making textbook that he got from the cupboard in the back of the class. It was a rather odd yet pleasing sight to Hermione.

She glanced around the room and her eyes landed on a Draco Malfoy, who was seated at the far corner of the room, sharing a table with his fellow housemate Blaise Zabini. The dark-skinned Italian boy was talking to Pansy Parkinson on another table, along with Gregory Goyle.

While the Slytherins were enthusiastically making fun about one Hufflepuff, Malfoy seemed to just stare into space, lost in his thoughts. It was odd to see the blonde so quiet and not joining the badmouthing parade his fellow Slytherins were on about. When Hermione looked carefully, she could almost see the dark rings under his eyes and it almost seemed as though he hadn't had enough sleep the night before.

Just then, Malfoy blinked and lifted his gaze to meet Hermione's. His eyebrows instantly furrowed and a hideous scowl marred his face when he realized Hermione had been staring at him.

"What are you staring at, Mudblood?" Malfoy spat, glaring at her, followed by a rude hand gesture.

"Mind your language, Malfoy!" Harry shot back, lifting his attention from the book momentarily when he heard the M-word and glaring back at the Slytherin.

"It's alright, Harry," Hermione told him quietly, placing a hand gently on his balled up fist.

Before Malfoy could retaliate, Slughorn barged into the classroom.

"Apologies for my tardiness, I seemed to have been caught up in a discussion with the Headmaster," he rambled on, placing his books and tomes on the teacher's table before removing vials and beakers from the shelf behind him. "Now, hurry up and prepare your beakers and cauldrons. Turn to page 10 and prepare the ingredients for the Draught of Living Dead."

While Hermione set up her materials, she lifted her eyes up at Malfoy one more time. He bore a frown on his face while setting up his cauldron, murmuring something under his breath. Their eyes met once again – a pair of cold silver eyes piercing through her pair of warm honey-brown ones. Hermione shuddered slightly.

Malfoy didn't say or do anything when he noticed her watching. He simply narrowed his eyes at her for a good few seconds before looking away, the scowl still etched across his facial features. Hermione let out a breath and tried to forget whatever happened between them just a moment ago – especially that odd wordless staring encounter.

One thing is for sure: there was something up with Malfoy, and Death Eater or not, insufferable git or not, Hermione was set to find out what and why.

-xxx-

A couple of weeks had passed and the first Quidditch game of the year had just ended. Gryffindor had won victoriously against Slytherin. The entire house of Gryffindor cheered merrily for the team during dinner at the Great Hall, while the Slytherin house was extremely quiet and the mood at their table was bitter.

Back in the Gryffindor common room, the sixth and seventh years – and some fifth years – stayed in the common room to celebrate their win while the younger ones returned to their dormitories. Harry was cheered upon for doing an amazing job as the new captain, but Ron too got some special spotlight from his housemates for his spectacular play as the new Keeper.

Hermione was seated in the far corner of the room on a small couch, watching everybody cheer joyously for the Quidditch team, when she saw Harry squeeze his way through the crowd towards her.

"Not a fan of the spotlight, are you, Captain?" Hermione teased with a light giggle.

She shifted to the side to make some space for Harry. The new Quidditch captain sat beside Hermione and looked at the rest of his team cheering and making toasts among their friends.

"No, being the Chosen One is enough attention for me," Harry joked. "Ron's having a blast though."

"He deserved it. He did a wonderful job, thanks to a little _help_ ," Hermione said, hinting Harry for his contribution of the Felix Felicis potion he won the other day from Slughorn.

Just then, they suddenly heard a distinct whistle from the middle of the crowd and then some of the guys made howling noises, the crowd shifting away from the subject of the commotion. As the crowd dispersed, Hermione and Harry saw the center of the commotion: Ron and Lavender were kissing right in the middle of the common room, arms wrapped tightly around each other.

Hermione didn't know what she was feeling at that moment. She first felt her heart sink to the bottom pit of her stomach, a shuddering cold feeling prickling her insides and then waves after waves of different emotions kept washing over her and it didn't stop. She just felt her chest tighten and her gut wrenching uncomfortably.

Watching them as they part away and smile sweetly at each other was the last straw for Hermione. She up and hurried out of the common room, avoiding the Gryffindors who were cheering for Ron and his new-found girlfriend. She could hear Harry calling out for her and she knew he was right at her heels, but she kept running, out of the common room and down the hallway.

Reaching the end of the empty corridor, Hermione stood by the open window, overlooking the vast Black Lake and letting the cool breeze sweep her curls away from her face. Her fingers curled into tight fists, her fingernails piercing into her skin painfully as she tried to control her tears, which were blurring her vision.

"Hermione," she heard Harry's soft voice and his hand on her shoulder.

She instantly turned around and buried her face into his chest, bursting into sad and angry tears as Harry wrapped his arm around his friend.

"He is such a dickhead, Harry!" Hermione said angrily, hitting Harry's chest with her fist limply. "A pompous, ignorant, blasted wanker!"

Harry did his best to soothe his friend, rubbing his hand up and down her back until she calmed down. A couple of minutes later, they sat down on the steps of the nearby stairway, Hermione leaning against Harry's shoulder as her sobs slowly eased down.

"Did you know?" Hermione asked quietly. "You know, about my feelings for..."

"Yeah, I kinda figured it out," Harry said with a shrug. "Don't think about it, 'Mione. Ron's my best friend, but I swear, he can be the most brainless person I know. He won't know what he's missing out on."

Lifting her head up, Hermione managed a smile at Harry.

"Thank you, Harry," she said quietly. "What about you? Don't you have one too?"

"Me?" Harry stiffened for a second and ran his hand through his hair. "Well... Yeah, but she's seeing someone else too."

Hermione wrapped her arms around Harry and they both sat there in the dim moonlight filtering through the light clouds in the sky, comforting each other the best they can and listening to the loud Gryffindors still partying in the common room, their muffled joyous cheers echoing off the walls.

A rather ironic situation, both Hermione and Harry wordlessly agreed.

-xxx-

 **Author's Notes:** Thanks so much for reading! As always, reviews are loved! 3


	3. An Unexpected Encounter

**Chapter 3  
An Unexpected Encounter**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own or have credit to the creation of all the characters, events, places and significant objects of Harry Potter. Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Entertainment respectively. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only. Some quotes are derived from the books and film and will be stated so beforehand or after.

 **Author's Notes:** Slight graphic sexual scenes. The confection mentioned in this story is completely fictional and does not belong to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I created it just for this story.

-xxx-

"You're going too far with this, Ronald!"

"What do you mean too far?"

"You and Lavender barely know each other, and you're already dating—

"You're just jealous of Lavender, aren't you?"

"I am _not_ jealous!"

"What is it then?"

"Lavender's using you, Ron! She's only interested in you because you won your first match in Quidditch."

"She saw my remarkable talent in Quidditch—

"You were simply under the influence of Liquid Luck!"

"I played and won that game by my talents! Don't you fucking dare say it's that potion's doing!"

Ron shot up from his chair and stormed out of the Great Hall, garnering a couple of stares from other students. Hermione dropped her head onto the table with a loud thud and let out a frustrated grunt. Harry, having witnessed the most heated argument between his two best friends as of yet, tried to think of a way to ease the situation – starting from the brunette sitting across from him.

He hesitantly called out her name, "H-Hermione?"

"What?!" Hermione snapped and lifted her head, narrowing her eyes which were brimmed with angry tears.

Harry gulped nervously and tried to explain as clearly as possible.

"Ron didn't take any Liquid Luck before the game," he said.

Hermione's brows furrowed together in confusion. She straightened her back slowly as she focused her attention on her best friend.

"What? What are you talking about?" she asked. "I saw you put the potion in his drink the other day."

Shaking his head, Harry bore a sympathetic look on his face as he took out a full vial of untouched Felix Felicis.

"I didn't put anything in Ron's pumpkin juice that day," Harry clarified.

She leaned forward, propping her elbows on the edge of the table, as the gears in her brain processed the new information from Harry, her eyes boring straight into the green ones of the raven-haired boy in front of her.

"So you're saying that Ron simply drank plain old pumpkin juice before the game?"

Harry nodded, "Yeah. I just pretended to put it in his drink so that he wouldn't be nervous for the match."

Hermione then realized that she was wrong, for once in her life. Ron had won simply by talent and no luck potion was involved.

"But that doesn't mean he can prance around with that pompous attitude!" Hermione huffed angrily.

"Yeah, I know. I didn't expect it to have this sort of effect anyway," Harry admitted, running his hand through his hair before glancing to his right a couple of times.

Finding his behaviour rather suspicious, Hermione followed his gaze and found that he was looking in the direction of a Ginny Weasley, who was giggling with a Dean Thomas. Bringing her gaze back at Harry, Hermione put two and two together when Harry fidgeted uncomfortably and his fingers kept curling into a fist.

"Well," Hermione suddenly said, standing up from the table and slamming her thick books against the table loudly, causing Harry to jump. "I guess we'll just have to see what happens then. I'm off to first period. Catch you later, Harry."

Harry blinked confusedly when Hermione gave him a cheeky wink, until a couple seconds later he realized his best friend had figured out everything right under his nose. It was no surprise – she was, after all, Hermione 'Brightest Witch of Her Age' Granger.

-xxx-

Four in the afternoon, the sun was slowly making its way down towards the horizon, seemingly to take rest atop the trees of the Forbidden Forest. Its bright rays of sunlight filtered through the windows of the castle walls, bringing light into the dim medieval interior.

The orange light reflected onto the grey stone floor of the corridors as Hermione walked leisurely from the library. It was a rather splendid afternoon for the Gryffindor. She had a productive time, researching for her Potions assignment and she managed to finish two other essays as well. She was almost joyous - almost, because of the heated squabble in the morning with her so-called best friend, which she still couldn't get rid of in her mind.

As she was lugging her research tomes in her book bag, she heard a giggle – a very familiar and annoying giggle – from the other end of the corridor. She clearly knew who it belonged to – it was engraved in her mind horrifyingly, more so than the sounds of Dementors. The rational part of her mind was telling her not to go and bother about the particular fellow housemate and whatever it was she was giggling about.

Another high-pitched giggle echoed down the empty corridor in front of the brunette, even louder and gut-wrenching. Before she knew it, her feet had taken flight on its own and she was walking forward towards the source of the sound, throwing all rationales out the window.

She suddenly stopped in her tracks when her eyes laid upon one of the most mortifying sights she had ever laid eyes upon. She wished she hadn't walked down the corridor and she now understood the meaning of 'curiosity killed the cat'. She was the cat, metaphorically, and her curiosity was the death of her.

Standing in the middle of the corridor, Hermione stayed frozen as her eyes locked onto the two Gryffindors – one who was her best friend, supposedly. She watched as Ron and his new girlfriend, Lavender, pressed their bodies against each other with their mouths interlocked in a passionate French snog.

Hermione's eyes followed Ron's hand as it travelled up Lavender's thigh and under her skirt, curling his fingers around her bum cheek. Lavender had her arms around Ron's neck, running her fingers through his messy red hair as she rolled her hips and rubbed her pelvis against his.

 _She's humping him, in broad daylight?!_

Hermione's jaw would've dropped to the floor if she weren't feeling the vortex of emotions she was experiencing right then and there. She felt angry, sad, bewildered, pain – she was in utter disbelief and ultimately hurt by what she was looking at.

Her chest felt like an inferno inside and her eyes were brimming with stinging tears. When she couldn't take it anymore, she fled from the corridor, towards the nearest archway and out onto the castle grounds.

Letting her tears fall, she ran until she was out of breath, stopping by the shore beside the Black Lake. She supported herself against a yew tree before falling onto her knees and sobbing heavily into her hands.

The solitude helped her let out all the pent up feelings of anger and fury in her chest for Merlin-knows-how-long. Her shoulders shook as she wailed softly, banging her fist against the rough bark of the tree. Eventually she stopped sobbing, but her tears continued to fall freely as she gathered her knees in her arms and looked out at the large still lake in front of her.

She heard the rustling of the grass on her right but she didn't bother looking up, until she heard a rather snarky voice.

"Well, well, look who do we have here? Finally realized how filthy your blood is, Granger?"

Draco Malfoy was standing to her right, leaning against another yew tree with his hands deep in his robe pockets and bearing the infamous Malfoy sneer. Realizing its Malfoy, she looked away and quickly wiped her tear-stained cheeks with the back of her hand.

"Sod off, Malfoy," Hermione grumbled.

"My, my, still don't know your place, Mudblood?" he continued.

"I said, sod off!" Hermione snapped at him, glaring at him.

"What got the little filthy know-it-all reduced to disgusting little tears? Did Pothead decide to ditch you? Or is it Weaselbee?" he said in a mocking tone.

Hermione was about to hex the Slytherin when suddenly they heard a giggle – an all-too-familiar giggle to the Gryffindor. Malfoy turned around and there was Lavender Brown bounding down the open corridor with Ron Weasley in tow.

Knowing that now Malfoy knew the reason why she was in that state, Hermione further buried her face in her sleeves, hiding her entire face from the world and willing herself to just magically disappear at that moment. There must be a spell of some sort that she had read before.

"Oh, so the Weasel found another girl to play with and dumped you for her," Malfoy snickered.

"Go away," Hermione's voice was muffled by her robes. "It's none of your business."

She could hear his feet moving against the grass, coming closer towards her.

"Yeah, it's none of my business, but to see the Mudblood being trampled by somebody other than me is rather unsettling," he said with an air of haughtiness.

Finally, having had enough of his nonsense, Hermione whipped her head towards him and glared up at Malfoy, angry tears still welling up in her eyes. He simply walked right up to her and bent down so they were eye to eye. Hermione continued shooting daggers with her eyes but he didn't falter a single bit.

"But honestly though, Granger," he continued, pulling the corner of his mouth into a smirk that Hermione has never seen him wear. "What's the point of shedding those filthy tears for somebody like Weaselbee?"

As Hermione tried to process what he just said to her, Malfoy stood up and idly walked away from her.

 _Did he just..._? Hermione was flabbergasted and thrown aback at what he had just said, at how civil Malfoy had been with her, even though he picked on her initially but it didn't end up in a nasty fight like it always does.

She heard something drop onto the patch of grass beside her and she looked down to see a couple pieces of candies, picking them up with her hand. Looking at the confection, Hermione's eyes widened as she turned around to look at Malfoy, who was walking back into the castle and waving his hand in the air without turning back.

 _Did he just... What in the world is going on?_ Hermione wondered as she looked down into her palm at the Honeydukes' candies that Malfoy had left for her: Cheer-up Caramel Drops.

-xxx-

Hermione had spent the last ten minutes casting spells on the confection, trying to detect for any poison or dark magic curses as she walked towards the Great Hall for dinner. So far, the sweets were perfectly normal, but Hermione wouldn't fall for it.

Why would Draco sodding Malfoy intentionally drop a couple of Cheer-up Caramel Drops by her side ten minutes ago? Maybe it wasn't intentional. Maybe he just accidentally dropped it.

 _But then why would he be carrying around Cheer-up Caramel Drops? It's not like he needs cheering up!_ Hermione thought in frustration.

Hermione knew it was no coincidence that he dropped these magical confections beside her – she knew it was intentional. As she turned around the corner towards the doors of the Great Hall, she stuffed the innocent-looking sweets into her robe pockets and joined Harry at the table.

"Where have you been, Hermione? I've been looking everywhere for you," Harry asked, looking worriedly.

The brunette gulped nervously, flashes of mental images of what she had seen earlier today in the deserted corridor prodding her feeble mind but she quickly shook those thoughts and emotions away as best as she could.

"The library," she lied, which wasn't technically a lie because she had been to the library before the disastrous incident happened.

Harry started digging into his food while intensely reading his Advanced Potions-making textbook. Hermione wondered what was so interesting about the potions textbook but decided not to question the raven-haired boy who was so immersed in his book.

As she started taking bites of her mashed potatoes, her eyes wandered around the Great Hall when she suddenly noticed a pair of striking grey eyes watching her. It was Malfoy, sitting all the way at the end at the Slytherin table.

He looked away momentarily, talking to his housemates before glancing back at her. Hermione watched the side of his mouth lift into a sneer as he popped a candy into his mouth. Her eyes widened as she realized he was eating the same caramel drop he had left for her earlier.

The Gryffindor looked away and continued eating her dinner, her hand reaching into her pocket and bringing the confection out on the table.

 _So he does carry sweets around, but why did he give me these ones earlier?_ Hermione wondered, nibbling on a piece of turkey breast.

This was so strange. Hermione couldn't think of any other theories for his weirdly civil behaviour earlier in the afternoon. If it was intentional, it almost seemed like Draco wanted her to feel better.

 _But that's just impossible... right?_

There's no way in hell Malfoy would have wanted her to feel better. This was so ridiculous. Hermione mentally scolded herself for thinking up ludicrous reasons as she stabbed the mash with her spoon.

-xxx-

*Cheer-up Caramel Drops: a sweet caramel confection that has magical properties to induce euphoria similar to chocolate


End file.
